Remote monitoring of electronic implants, such as cardiac pacemakers, implantable defibrillators, or neurostimulators is becoming increasingly important. These implants transmit data at regular intervals (e.g., once a day) or by event-triggered transmission to a remote monitoring server to which the physician has access via a data link, and thus can perform remote monitoring.
All currently known approaches must rely on a relay station (e.g., BIOTRONIK Cardio Messenger) for transmission of data from the electronic implant to a data transmission network (mobile wireless network, telephone network, etc.). Data transmission from the electronic implant to the relay station via MICS band (in some cases also ISM band) is preferably used here.
The disadvantage of this approach is that the patient must carry an additional cost-intensive external accessory device within the range of the implant to ensure data transmission from the implant to the transmission network. These external accessory devices can be regarded as a weak point in this transmission link because they are often not operated correctly by the patient, or they are not within the range of the patient (patient compliance). In some cases, these devices encounter rejection by the patient and result in psychological side effects because the patient is constantly being reminded of the electronic implant (anxiety, control compulsion, etc.).
FIG. 1 shows the current state of the art. An electronic implant 110 has an MICS band transceiver and at periodic intervals sends signals representing values of technical and/or physiological parameters measured with the implant to a relay station 120, which must be located in the immediate vicinity of the patient bearing the electronic implant 110 at the time of the transmission. This relay station 120 then transmits the data sent by an integrated GSM modem to a GSM base station 130, which then transmits this data in turn over a mobile wireless network 140 to a remote monitoring server 150, and thus makes the data available to the physician 160.
The relay station 120, also called the patient device, may be implemented in a mobile or stationary version. A conventional telephone network link may be used for data transmission with a stationary patient device 120.
Reliable data transmission is usually possible only when the patient device 120 is activated and is situated a maximum distance of 2-5 meters from the electronic implant 110.